19 Jun 2006

Chevron Finds Plaintiffs' Report on Shushufindi Suroeste Station Contains Accusations that are Not Supported by the Scientific Evidence

QUITO, Ecuador, June 19, 2006 – Chevron has formally notified the Superior Court in Nueva Loja that plaintiffs' expert's report for the Shushufindi Suroeste Station (SSF-SO), contains no credible scientific evidence to support accusations against Texpet. Data from plaintiffs' expert's own technical report contradict their conclusions -- in fact, they found no harmful levels of petroleum related chemicals at the site and the data prove that Texpet past operations pose no threat to human health.

In its rebuttal Chevron stated:

  • For the last 15 years the only operator of this area has been Petroecuador. Although the site is solely the responsibility of Petroecuador, plaintiffs' expert report for Shushufindi Suroeste Station suggests Texpet should conduct remediation activities.
  • Of the two soil samples and three surface water samples taken by plaintiffs' expert, no sample indicated the presence of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene or xylenes (BTEX), or the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Total petroleum hydrocarbons were also not detected, with the exception of one soil sample. It is therefore unreasonable to allege that extensive "contamination" exists. In reality, the plaintiffs' expert did not have sufficient analytical results to justify the exaggerated claims contained in the report. The few samples that he analyzed demonstrate exactly the opposite; that the "contamination" he described does not exist.
  • Contrary to the speculation contained in the report, there is no evidence indicating that a swamp area near the station was impacted by an oil spill during the time Texpet operated the station. In fact, the report did not document any spills which may have occurred when the site was operated by Texpet. Yet, there is irrefutable evidence that several spills have occurred since 1990, when Petroecuador took over the operations of the site.

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